Cavs: Predicting the 3 best off-movement shooters in 2020-21

Here, we’ll predict the three players that will be the Cleveland Cavaliers’ three best off-movement shooters in 2020-21.

It’s uncertain at this point if we’ll see more Cleveland Cavaliers game action in the 2019-20 campaign due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Either way, it is seemingly very likely that the NBA season will have some sort of resumption at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World, of which you can view recent reported updates/potential scenarios at this link and also here.

There were also another quick bit of reported updates on Friday, which we’ll briefly touch on here.

These were from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

Plus, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Ramona Shelburne and Zach Lowe reported that NBA owners will essentially likely vote in the league inviting “20-22 teams” to participate in a season resumption in Orlando on a Thursday call next week with the NBA Board of Governors.

Regardless of if we’ll end up seeing more Cavs game action this season, which is increasingly unlikely, it’s only natural for Cavs fans to begin shifting our focus to the 2020-21 season for the Wine and Gold.

No, the 2019-20 season has not been great thus far, and the Cavaliers’ 19-46 record to this point indicates that. Albeit on the bright side, Cleveland did seem to get some juice post-All-Star break leading into the league’s COVID-19-induced hiatus.

In that span in which J.B. Bickerstaff took over the head coaching reigns, the group seemed re-energized, and responded by having a fairly respectable record of 5-6. Nobody should read a ton into that stretch of games, as teams often are galvanized by a mid-season head coaching change, and perhaps that was the case in this instance for the Cavs.

The group was playing much better and moving the ball well, though, and Larry Nance Jr. even looked like a viable 3 man in some matchups, which was something I was skeptical of, but I’ve come around to that in some games. Nance has also continued to progress all-around on the offensive end, and for the season so far overall, he’s had a career-best 35.2 percent hit rate on three-pointers.

Meanwhile, Collin Sexton and Cedi Osman have also further proven themselves to be more than capable perimeter shooters, as both have hit 38.0 and 38.3 percent of their three-point attempts in 2019-20. We have seen both at times show positive signs in terms of off-movement shooting, too.

Moreover, here, we’ll predict the three Cleveland Cavaliers players that will be the best off-movement shooters next season.

Production from shooting off of movement is something we were seeing more of leading into the hiatus from the Cavs, but still not a ton of.

I’d expect the Wine and Gold to utilize that more in 2020-21, though, and next up, we’ll take a look at one of the players that could be Cleveland’s best off-movement shooter next season. We’ve seen flashes of deep shooting from this youngster, but he needs to show it more and be more willing to let it fly when the looks are there.

One of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ three best 2020-21 off-movement shooters: Darius Garland

Darius Garland has had growing pains throughout his rookie season thus far, and that’s evident.

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He’s been somewhat underwhelming with just 12.3 points per game, and his 35.5 percent hit rate on three-point looks has left some to be desired, given his natural ability as a shooter. His playmaking instincts have been a positive, though, and in last 10 games active, he had 4.9 assists to just 1.8 turnovers per outing.

Looking at next season, with him operating feasibly in some more instances off the ball, too, I firmly believe we’ll see Garland establish himself as one of the Cavs’ best off-movement shooters.

He has hit a robust 39.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot three-point attempts so far in 2019-20, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data, and as he had been getting more comfortable, we were seeing the rookie hit triples a fair amount coming off screens.

With Garland heading into his second year, I’d expect him to be a key relocation piece for Cleveland in sequences with the likes of Kevin Love, Andre Drummond, who is reportedly likely to pick up his $28.8 million player option for 2020-21, and also Larry Nance Jr.

I expect to see Garland get his share of looks in the mid-range area with him being more accustomed to opponents over-extending to him off-ball to prevent three-point looks and receiving looks off moving into the mid-range area more, too. In those instances, the likes of Cedi Osman, Kevin Porter Jr. and Collin Sexton could find him as well.

That’d feasibly come after being freed up from off-ball back screens from Drummond, Love and/or Nance, and I’d just prefer to see Garland take those looks and/or deep off-movement deep balls more. In that regard, I also believe he’ll display more confidence.

I’d imagine that the Cavs will stress for Garland, even while I’d think we’ll see him firing a bunch in pick-and-roll situations, to fire shots off of movement more and more as the year progresses. That’s even more so with KPJ, in particular, handling playmaking duties a considerable amount of the time with the attention he’ll draw from opposing defenses as Cleveland’s best driving threat.

Next up, I have very high hopes for a fellow 2019 Cavs’ draft pick as an off-movement shooter in 2020-21 and beyond.

One of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ three best 2020-21 off-movement shooters: Dylan Windler

We haven’t seen Dylan Windler for the Cleveland Cavaliers yet at this point due to complications involving a stress reaction in his left leg. Granted, it appears now that Windler could reportedly make an appearance for Cleveland in 2019-20, if the Cavs do have more game action. That’s again, likely not going to happen, though.

Anyway, looking at next season, I firmly believe after he gets more comfortable, Windler could prove to be Cleveland’s most dangerous off-movement shooter.

The 6-foot-6 wing is really polished off-the-catch and hit 40.6 percent of his three-point attempts in a four-year career at Belmont, which included a 42.9 percent hit rate as a senior on 7.1 attempts per outing, per Sports Reference.

That was absolutely not NBA competition, but Windler has a quick release and smooth stroke, and that should translate. He should prove to be a big-time perimeter shooter via relocation/and subtle movements off-ball and coming off pin-downs/getting looks after getting to spots after flare screens, and Windler could be lethal and help the Cavs in a big way as a floor spacer as a result.

Along with that, I’d think with Windler’s off-movement ability, he should draw his share of fouls from hard closeouts, and he should be a quality pull-up threat from coming around curls as well.

Last but not least, the Cavs’ best overall shooter for now is one that’d I’d expect to be the other clear best off-movement player for them next season.

One of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ three best 2020-21 off-movement shooters: Kevin Love

At this point, Kevin Love is the Cavs’ best shooter, in my opinion.

Thus far in the 2019-20 season, Love has placed in the 81st percentile on spot-ups, and solidly in the 68th percentile in off-screen situations, both per Synergy Sports Technology. On the year, Love has hit 37.4 percent of his three-point attempts, and that’s been on a career-high 7.0 attempts per contest.

Love’s gravity as a shooter helps open up driving lanes for Sexton, KPJ and others, and while he clearly is a knockdown spot-up shooter, he’s proven that he’s more than capable of hitting off-screen/off-movement shots.

That will carry over into next season as well, and instances with him and Windler on the floor together could lead to both getting a considerable amount of perimeter looks via pin-downs.

I’d expect Love to get plenty his share of flare screens from Drummond/Nance and/or fire after elevator screens in the mid-range, too, similarly to Garland, leading to quality looks off subtle movement.

In that regard, I’d also expect Cleveland’s young pieces should be able to find/hit Love as an off-movement shooter, too, with them having more experience playing off Love and knowing his sweet spots on the floor in the catch-and-shoot sense.

So, could other Cavaliers bring more of an off-movement shooting element than these three next season?

That could potentially play out, sure, but Garland, Windler and Love jump out to me in that way at the moment when forecasting how the 2020-21 season will progress.